Page 219 of Boys Who Taint

Instantly.

Definitively.

Even though Mavis’s foot is already off the ground.

I can’t.

I won’t.

I refuse to give up on Aspen Caruso.

And as Mavis lets go of my hand, ready to make the jump, I stay frozen in time … while she slips and screams.

THUD!

I’m frozen to the ground while the dead whisper in my ear.

Join her.

You deserve it.

You killed her.

You killed an innocent girl.

Her sister.

It’s all your fault.

You let her jump without you.

You’re a murderer.

The first tent behind me zips open, and Cecelia races toward me, beckoned by the deafening sound of death.

A death that’s on my hands.

I can’t.

I can’t let go of Aspen.

And now I’ll lose her forever.

Aspen

Present

The oxygen hitchesin my throat.

He … was in love with me?

That’s why Mavis died?

“I couldn’t do it. When I saw that butterfly, all I could think about was you. You. You.” He clutches his hair. “Every week, every day, every minute, every fucking second of my life, all I could think about was you. It’s always you.”

The pain in his voice wounds me.

It tears down all the defenses I’d built and turns them into dust.

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